The Boyfriend Expedition
by FluffDucklings
Summary: Matthew is head-over-heels for Edik, the one person he desperately wishes will notice him even though he is too shy to actually approach him. Rated T for language so far. male!Ukrainexmale!Canada
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Nyo!UkrainexCanada. As in male!Ukrainexmale!Canada. It's not that I have anything against fem!Ukraine. I don't. She's probably one of the cutest characters I've ever seen (right under Fluttershy). It's just that I love male!Ukraine better. And I don't think this pairing gets enough attention. Like a lot of other pairings.  
>Like the rest of my stories, this most likely will never get finished, but I hope I can at least get it started enough until my muse leaves me.<p>

Names! male!Ukraine = Edik Braginski. Same last name as Natalia and Ivan. I don't like giving them diffrent yet similar surnames when they are related, thus same surename.

Ismael = Cuba

This is written as sarcasm, ere go all the 'fuck's.

So, I don't own Hetalia. Though I do own the laptop used to type this.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did while typing it!

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><p>Yes, because apparently, everything in his life had to go wrong. Never once could he catch a freaking break! And you know why? Well, Matthew didn't really know why. He just assumed it was because he had an incredible amount of bad luck and that Fate just liked to use him as a stress reliever.<p>

Either way, Matthew just knew that life could never ever be easy for him. His uncanny ability to turn invisible, his wispy voice, his somewhat lack of muscle and upper-body strength, and the icing on the top, his sexuality.

Because nothing about him could be normal. Of course. Why not make the 'ghost-freak' gay? Why the hell not?

And the worst part? The one person he actually has a crush on, has the most terrifying little siblings on the face of the planet. Literally.

But other than them, Edik was the most wonderful person ever.

He was tall and strong, and soft-spoken. His voice, when he talked, was the sweetest thing Matthew had (and probably ever will) heard. His hair was a soft platinum colour and his eyes were a deep gold with flecks of violet. Er, not that Matthew was stalking him or anything. He was just observant. Honest.

But of course, just like he was invisible to most of the student body, Matthew was invisible to Edik as well.

So Matthew sighed as he held his head in his hand, gazing across the classroom at Edik while he scribbled answers down on a piece of paper. The way his tongue stuck out at the corner of his mouth, just a tad, the way his eyes scrunched up just the tiniest bit – Oh! it was too cute!

Matthew looked away at his own paper. There was nothing on it. …If you exclude the poorly drawn hearts and kissy faces he had been doodling for the past hour. Fuck.

He took out a new piece and got to work on the assignment that was due in a good ten minutes.

Lunch rolled around faster than he anticipated and Matthew found himself stuck between a sleeping twin and a brooding Cuban.

"What did Al do this time, Ismael?" Matthew asked as he ate.

Ismael sigh in annoyance and glared at the sleeping blond next to Matthew. "What didn't he do?" Ismael chuckled. "That idiot was just being his old stupid self."

Matthew nodded and gave a small laugh. "That sounds like Al. Idiotic and stupid."

After a few minutes, Ismael shifted the conversation to Edik. "So, have you talked to him yet?"

Matthew nearly spit his water out. "E-Eh… No." He gave a sheepish smile and shook his head. "I-I kinda got distracted by… um, looking at him."

Ismael chuckled. "Sounds like Matthew. Dude, you need to get your priorities straight. No pun intended. If you ask him out and he says yes, you can look at him all you want and it won't be creepy if you get caught."

Matthew blushed, but nodded all the same. "I know. I just… Ivan is terrifying and Natalia doesn't like it when people try to get close to her brothers."

The Cuban agreed. "She is bat-shit psycho, I'll give you that. But you gotta ignore her. She doesn't even go to this school. She's in, like, elementary right now."

"Eighth grade, actually. And we're Juniors so we'd have at least one year with her in the same school. And I don't want that. Ivan is terror enough."

Ismael sighed again. "Well, if you're just going to pussy out of all your chances, I'm not going to help you, so never mind." And he finished his lunch before the bell rang.

The last class of the day was American History and just because the teacher probably hated him, he was seated next to Edik.

That class always made Matthew nervous. His hands would shake, his palms would sweat, and his heart would twitch longingly, yet he could never allow himself to talk to Edik. His poor heart would probably give out if he did. …Way to sound sappy. Eh.

But wait, what is that? Is that Fate calling out to him? What did she say? She wants Matthew to partner up with Edik for a history project? Oh fuck.

Once the bell for class rang, the teacher began spouting out nonsense about some new project she wanted them to complete. "You'll need to write a two page paper, make a diorama, and make a reenactment of something from the chapter I assign you."

The class groaned. Urgh, work. In school. Who woulda thought?

"I've already paired you up," she waited for the next collective groan to pass, "so before the class if up, come up to my desk to find out who you're with."

Then she continued with the day's lesson on the Great War, talking adamantly as she went through a PowerPoint presentation.

At the end of class, with his heart pounding, Matthew went up to her desk, hands kneading at the side.

"Oh, Mr. Williams. You're with Edik Braginski. You were the odd group with only two – I hope you don't mind."

"N-Not at all, ma'am. Thank you."

Double fuck.

Now with his heart pounding ten-fold, Matthew sat back down and glanced at Edik. He was finishing up his notes, cleaning them up and putting them away and was making to get up, when Matthew said in his wispy voice of his, "W-We're paired up."

Edik didn't catch it though so Matthew said again, a tiny bit louder, "W-We're paired up, Edik."

At the sound of his name, Edik looked next to him at the blond he swore was not there before. "Oh. Hello. You said we were partnered up?"

Matthew nodded, not trusting his voice anymore.

"Well, it's nice to meet you. I'm Edik." His soft voice was so velvety Matthew could just – oh, never mind. This is a school setting.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Matthew replied, "I-I'm Matthew."

Well, there goes the introductions.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **Dear freaking lord. My anime con is this weekend. .U.  
>Anyways~ You must love male!Ukraine to continue this. I command it. But... If you don't... that's fine too. c:<br>(For future reference: I am turning to the dark side. i.e. The Harry Potter section~ So please expect a few drabbles over there!)

I don't own Hetalia. And I took the name from television, if you're wondering.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did while writing/typing it!

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><p>"Destiny hates my guts."<p>

"You're just too shy."

"No, really. She has it out for me, I swear."

Ismael sighed as he shook his head. "Look. Edik said hello. It's not the end of the world."

"But we're partnered up in an at-home project! I think it _is_ the end of the world!"

"Now, if you're just gonna worry yourself sick, I can't help ya there. But if you actually want to talk with him and get to know him, I can. So which is it?"

It was Matthew's turn to sigh. "I-I want to talk with him."

"Good. Now go!"

"My home is being renovated right now, so, could we start the project at yours?"

Matthew's heart was pounding and those sweaty palms were back with a vengeance.

"I-uh-I g-guess…"

"If it's too much trouble, I understand."

_Don't sound dejected!_ Oh, now Matthew felt horrible. "N-No! U-Uh, a-actually, my house is good. We can start tomorrow, since i-it's Saturday."

Edik smiled that oh-so adorable smile and nodded. "Alright. Thank you. I'll bring the camera."

Once Edik left, Matthew slumped down against a few lockers. "Phew."

The bell rang not long after that and before the mob could trample him, Matthew was already on the bus, his headphones plugged in and some Canadian junkie band blasting in his head.

Alfred was chowing down on his second burger as he watched Matthew scurry around the living room and kitchen, mumbling, "messy, messy, messy," under his breath.

"Dude, chill. Aren't ya'll jus' gonna be outside anyway?" He shoved the last bit of the burger down and grabbed his twin's arm as he passed.

"A-Al! This house is a terror! And I don't want Edik to think we're slobs."

"So you're gonna let him think you live in some germaphobe security unit? SO not the image you want to pain." He pulled Matthew into the chair next to him. "The house's fine as it is and if Mr. Edik doesn't think so, then screw that prissy bastard. N-Not literally, though, obviously. Ya'll aren't old enough for that kinda stuff."

Matthew flushed. "I don't even…"

The doorbell rang and Matthew jumped up, rushing to answer it with Alfred's advice of "let him wait a minute, it tells him he ain't the center of your universe," floating behind him.

"A-Ah, hello, Edik."

The Ukrainian descendant smiled politely, holding up a small video camera and a bag of chips in either hand. "Hello."

Alfred came up and said, "I'm jus' leavin'. Kiku and video games and all." And with that, he pushed Edik through the doorway and left down the sidewalk.

"Er, s-sorry about that." Matthew showed Edik to the living room, sitting down on the couch, because frankly, his legs were going to give any second.

"So how do you want to start the re-enactment? Maybe… write a script first?"

Matthew nodded, "Y-Yeah, uh… We'll write it then go from there."

Alfred returned a quarter to six and was not too pleased to still find Edik there.

The boys were in the kitchen, drinking water, as they (rather, Edik) talked.

"My little brother, Ivan, he's real protective of me."

Matthew nodded shyly, Alfred could see from the hall.

"And sweet Natalia loves Ivan so much." Edik gave a soft chuckle. "It's real sweet."

Okay, so it they were only talking – and nothing more – Alfred could let it go. Just this once.

He snuck past the kitchen and holed up in his room, stating up the game Kiku lent him.

"A-Alfred's real pro-tective as well." _Doin' pretty good, Mattie. No sweaty palms and the stutters are at a minimum!_ Just work up your comfort level and talking to the crush of your dreams is as easy as pie.

The boys heard a car pull up and a door shut and they realized what time it was.

"O-Oh. I have to get home. Father was expecting me." Edik apologized for not paying attention to the time and left after Arthur came in.

"Was that that boy you have a crush on?" Arthur asked after he shut the door.

Matthew became red-faced and flustered. "D-Dad, don't say that! It's embarrassing."

Arthur acquiesced. "Sorry. It's just nice to see you out of your shell."

"I know. A-And his name's Edik, Dad."

Arthur chuckled as he got a pan and some ground beef out, prepping dinner.

**[Mattie]**

We got most of the video gone and then we just talked about our siblings and stuff.

**[Ishy] **

Great! No st-st-stuttering, I hope.

**[Mattie]**

Well… only a little… heh.

**[Ishy]**

Well, it's progress, I guess.

**[Mattie]**

Yeah. Well, gn~

**[Ishy]**

Yeah, you too.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **Short chapters = More updates? Pft. I can't even bother with school. ...I'm kidding.

God bless the internetzz?

I don't own Hetalia.

Please enjoy!

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><p>Once Edik got home, he found Ivan in the kitchen, trying to heat up a can of soup. But he was apparently having trouble just opening the can. Edik smiled. "Let me do that, Ivan. Could you get Natalia and wash up?"<p>

Ivan nodded, not saying anything as his brother took over dinner.

Edik pulled the tab on the instant tomato soup and poured it into three bowls, warming them in the microwave. Then he took out a box of crackers and scrounged up some fruit and set it all at the lop-sided dining table, placing three glasses of water by each bowl, just as his two baby siblings sat down.

Before they ate, by request of Edik, they each said a silent prayer and thanks for their meal.

As they ate, Ivan inquired about Edik's day. "Why were you gone so long?"

"I'm sorry to worry you, brother. I just got caught up in the project I have for history class. I'll try to keep better track of time."

"Brother!" Natalia nuzzled up to Ivan, whining for him to ask about _her_ day at elementary.

When dinner was cleaned up and the little ones were in bed, Edik stayed in the living room, finishing the math work he'd been assigned that Friday. And before he knew it, he was asleep on the couch, math book laid open in his lap.

The next morning, Edik woke with a chink in his neck. But he just rubbed it away as he went to wake up Ivan before getting ready for work.

He worked at a club house – a rec. center of sorts – in a well-off neighborhood, cleaning it after parties or cook-offs. It paid twenty-five dollars and hour – something Edik was very grateful for. It gave him enough money for food and bills each month, as the house had been paid for in full before their father died.

Come Monday, he was tired from the cleaning and the housework he'd promised himself he would do (plus taking Ivan and Natalia to the park to blow some steam).

History, his last class of the day, dragged on forever. The teacher kept lecturing and if he didn't shake his head every so minutes, the words began blurring together.

Beside him, his partner, Matthew, was diligently taking notes. After glancing at his own chicken-scratch, he decided he'd ask to borrow them.

Then his mind wandered. First, what he would do for dinner that night, then the laundry that was getting behind, and finally the project. It was nice to worry over something other than home and work. And really, Matthew was nice to talk to. He wasn't mean or rude or made fun of his shyness because Matthew was shy as well.

"Mr. Braginski?" The teacher was waving a hand in his face. "Are you alright? Is my lecture upsetting you?"

Edik was confused for a second. Upset? Then he felt his mouth tugged down into a frown. "N-No, ma'am. I'm sorry."

The bell rang soon and he caught Matthew's shoulder. "I'm sorry, but could I borrow your notes? I couldn't concentrate today."

Matthew's face was pink, but he gave up his notebook, stuttering a "h-here you go" as he did.

Edik promised to return it as soon as possible and left to find the buses.

He started dinner, boiling pasta and warming up canned tomato sauce, before Ivan got home with Natalia. And by the time they were, Edik was pouring milk into three glasses.

"I hope you don't mind an early dinner. And after we get homework done, we can all go to the park."

Natalia smiled, clinging to Ivan, and agreed.

"You're not tired, brother?" Ivan asked, sitting down in front of a plate.

Edik smiled. "No. I just thought it would be nice to go out."


End file.
